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The Last Stand
The Last Stand is one of the signature games of Raven, and is played on the Friday of each week by the final two or three warriors who are left in that week, both to decide who will progress from the heats to the finals and to see who will gain the Staff of Power and become the Ultimate Warrior. Several variants of the Last Stand have existed in the show, both during the original run and during the revival seasons. Seasons 2 and 3 In seasons 2 and 3, The Last Stand is a race between two warriors at a time. The two warriors playing, dressed in BMX armour over their warrior robes, must race their opponent across the field of battle, collecting the four pieces of a key as they run and assembling the key, before putting the key in the lock to the portal and turning it, in order to open it briefly and run through it. Nevar, serving as 'Guardian of the Portal', stands on top of the portal. He will prevent the warriors from entering the portal, and will shoot lightning bolts at the warriors from his hands. Each time he successfully zaps a warrior, they lose one of their lives. If a warrior loses all their lives, they have lost the game and will vanish in a red flash. For instance, if a warrior starts this game with five lives left, they will lose if Nevar strikes them five times, whilst if their opponent has only one life, they cannot afford to be hit at all. In the heats, the warriors in first and second place will play first. The loser will receive a second chance to play, with all their lives restored, against the warrior in third place. Whoever loses the second round will be sent home. In the finals, as this variant of The Last Stand will only have two warriors playing, a fourth trip to Way of The Warrior was necessitated, before the voyage to The Last Stand. Trivia Nevar's lightning was, in reality, paint. He operated paintball guns, with the paintball shooting replaced with his lightning ability. This variant of The Last Stand featured the same music as Long Staff. Season 4 In season 4, The Last Stand was overhauled drastically. It was now a three-level obstacle course race between the final three warriors. Moreover, the warriors now start in cages, and their lives and rings give a time advantage; the warrior in first place, with the most lives and rings, will start first, followed by the warrior in second place, who would be followed by the warrior in third place. At the start of the challenge, Nevar, still in place over the portal, at the far end of the course, will fire his staff at the cage containing the first warrior, opening it, whilst the other two cages would open by themselves when needed. Furthermore, as well as having his staff, Nevar can summon Demons: three at the end of the first level, and three more at the end of the second level, though the latter would be summoned when a warrior was approaching the end of the second level. And finally, the warriors now dress in purple overalls, black boots, silver helmets, knee-pads and elbow-pads, grey gloves and a silver vest with their warrior emblem steniclled on the front in black. The first level provides the warriors with a cricket bat-type tool, which they use to knock down all the columns in their path, before inserting the bat into a jack and pushing it all the way forward. This would destroy the Demon in their path, leaving a large golden disc on the podium. Retrieving the disc, the warriors must then climb over a low wooden wall and then crawl under a cargo net. After the cargo net, another wooden wall stands in their path, and beyond that, their second Demon on the podium, with another podium in front. The warriors must match the symbols on the podium with the symbols on their disc, such that it displays all six warrior emblems. Correctly fitting the disc destroys the second Demon, leaving a golden cylinder on the podium. Taking the cylinder, the warriors must wade through a low pool, climb up a waterfall and hoist their cylinder up, before sending it down the other side and sliding down after it. The warriors must then align their cylinder with the symbols on its holder (again, so as to show the warrior emblems), before they can enter the portal. However, after coming across the top of the waterfall, Nevar will start shooting at the warriors. In the heats, after two warriors have entered the portal, Nevar will kill the third instantly. In the case of finals, the number of fatalities went up to two (Kinsa and Dejan) after the Ultimate Warrior (Linma) had reached the portal. Trivia Series 4 introduced the new, exclusive background music. It also introduced the ominous map music, as well as the shots of Nevar observing the warriors with his stone water dish. Seasons 5, 6 and 7 For season 5 onwards, The Last Stand was changed slightly, in that the warriors no longer wear overalls, boots or vests, though they still retain climbing helmets, gloves, knee-pads and elbow-pads. Furthermore, the course was changed slightly, with level one now consisting of the warriors standing on a balance beam and dragging a key on the end of a chain through a maze of poles above their head, in order to open a cage at the other end. The cage contains a five-piece square jigsaw that, when assembled correctly, shows the warrior emblems on the top and bottom in black, and the warrior's own emblem in red on the centre. After destroying the Demon, the bat from the previous variant's level one was left in its wake, but beyond that, The Last Stand was more or less the same as it was in season 4. In season 7, the warriors now wear the silver vests from season 4, but not the overalls, and the course is the same. In finals week, it only had two warriors playing: Versad (who became Ultimate Warrior) and Hanso. Seasons 8, 9 and 10 With the move to Aviemore at the end of season 7, Last Stand (the 'The' now being dropped) was drastically redesigned, now taking place in a field rather than in a muddy battlefield as it did previously. Moreover, the warriors now follow a path with an unofficial colour. The warrior starting in first place follows a blue path, the warrior starting in second place follows a red path, and the warrior starting in third place follows a purple path. Nevar will now shoot at the warriors, in order to prevent them from completing Last Stand and progressing. To that end, Raven will provide the warriors with a shield each, in order to protect themselves. The first level consists of the warriors climbing over a low wooden wall and collecting five squares, each with a letter on it. Carrying the squares one at a time, they must race over two ramps, before deciphering the word bank in front of them. The bank consists of five words, each of three letters, with one letter missing from each word. The warriors must put the correct letters into the correct space in order to complete the words. Upon completion, the warrior can progress to their shield, and the first two of six golden warrior emblems (here, the mountain and moon emblems (the moon's star already in place)). At this point, Nevar will fire his staff at that warrior, who must use the shield to deflect the blast at the Demon in front of them. Beyond the Demon is another low wooden wall, followed by a series of tunnels that the warriors must crawl through, to take them to their second Demons and the next two emblems (the sun and tree emblems) for their shield. Again, Nevar will fire on the warriors, and again, the blasts are deflected to the Demons. Here, the warriors must now take a small hand-held police battering ram and use it to break down two diamond-shaped walls made of show cement, after which lie the final two emblems (the cloud and wave emblems) for their shield and a larger battering ram, hanging from chains, in order to smash through the gates in their path. After passing through the gates, the warriors must protect themselves from Nevar's blasts as they run to the portal. In the heats, after two warriors have breached the portal, the shield in the possession of the third warrior will vanish, allowing Nevar to kill them easily. The finals follows the rules of seasons 2 and 3, in having another trip to Way of the Warrior before the final Last Stand of the series and two warriors playing the final Last Stand, despite it following the same layout as in the heats. Seasons 9 and 10 had the shields coloured, as opposed to having wood colour for all three; the shields were coloured in the same scheme as the warriors' paths from season 8; blue for the warrior starting first, red for the warrior starting second, and purple for the warrior starting third. Series 11 and 12 Similar previous series, The Last Stand is done as the finale of every heat, along with it still being done at the end of the series. However, there are two completely different variants of The Last Stand in the revival series: one for the heats and another for the end of the series. Qualifier Form Description The three remaining warriors of each heat must complete The Last Stand, in its traditional assault course form, in order to reach the portal at the other side. The first warrior through the portal goes on to the final round, whilst the other two are eliminated. The warrior with the most rings gets a head start, the second less of a head start, and the warrior with the least rings starts last. The three levels of the assault course bear some similarity to seasons 8, 9 and 10, and yet also introduce some new elements. The first level has the warriors climb over a high beam, followed by ramps that go up and down. Next they must build a ramp, as happened in seasons 9 and 10, in order to reach the shield, located at the top of the ramp. The shield protects the warriors from the Demons, who use their stare to try and stop them. Collecting the shield automatically triggers a drawbridge to the Demon. After completing the first level, they must crawl under and over obstacles, over another beam, and then they must place the four golden raven symbols into their shield. After battering down the door to gain a sun-faced talisman, the warrior can then activate the portal using the talisman and carry on to the final. The talisman triggers the boulder blocking the portal to roll away, down the entrance ramp, allowing the warrior to breach the portal. Final Form Description Nevar completely redesigned this challenge for the final challenge of each new series, played by the three remaining warriors. The course is above the Infernal Loch. The aim of the challenge is to collect eight talismans from around the course and place them into the portal key, in order to open the portal. Nevar stands over the warriors, flanked by Demons, and occasionally shoots at them with energy blasts. There are thirty-six talismans place around the course (twelve of each of the three colours, and each tagged with the warrior's respective heat symbol). The warriors can only collect and carry up to two talismans at once and can only collect talismans in their own colour. Warriors enter the course at different points, as well as at different times, and so face the challenges of The Last Stand in a different order. These challenges include: * Spider's web * Rope bridge * Swinging rope bridge * Tightrope (with guiding wire) * Swinging bridge * Balance beam * Crossed ropes bridge * Leap of faith * Climbing pole * Monkey bars They can be faced in any order, according to the warrior's own preferences. Category:Challenges Category:Series 2 Category:Series 3 Category:Series 4 Category:Series 5 Category:Series 6 Category:Series 7 Category:Series 8 Category:Series 9 Category:Series 10 Category:Series 11 Category:Series 12